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Carbon Fiber and Clean Energy: 4 Uses for Industry

February 7, 2014 - 3:27pm

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Oxidized fibers move to a high temperature furnace, where material is converted into carbon fiber at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Carbon Fiber Technology Facility (CFTC). The CFTC enables companies to test low-cost carbon fiber for use in several industries including the clean energy sector. | Photo courtesy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory

CARRYING CLEAN ENERGY

Carbon fiber composite trailers manufactured by Hexagon Lincoln in Nebraska can deliver hydrogen to cars, trucks, buses and other vehicles throughout the country that are powered by fuel cell technologies. The lightweight vessels can haul more than 720 kilograms of hydrogen, more than double the amount that can be carried in traditional steel tube trailers. Hexagon Lincoln received funding through the Energy Department‘s Fuel Cell Technologies Office to help develop the trailers. Photo of carbon fiber trailer courtesy of Hexagon Lincoln

GREENING CARBON FIBER

In an effort to make carbon fiber even more sustainable, the Energy Department’s Bioenergy Technologies Office just announced funding to develop a new process that produces carbon fiber precursors from renewable non-food-based biomass feedstocks such as corn stover. In addition to displacing fossil fuel feedstocks like petroleum and natural gas, the renewable carbon fiber could then be incorporated into vehicle components, reducing the vehicle’s overall weight and increasing fuel efficiency. Photo of corn stover courtesy of National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Carbon fiber’s strength, durability, low weight, and other properties make it an important material for technologies used in the clean energy industry.